England will defend their Women’s Rugby World Cup title on Sunday after seeing off Six Nations rivals France in an enthralling last-four battle.
The Six Nations champions secured a hard-fought 20-3 win in a physical encounter and will now face New Zealand in Belfast.
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France will face USA for third, while Ireland and Wales both lost their matches and will play each other in a seventh-place play-off.
England tough it out to reach final
England boss Simon Middleton will have been delighted with his side’s resilience and determination to come through against a France side who threw everything they had for 80 minutes.
France suffered a major early blow with flanker Romane Menager ruled out through injury but they started the game on fire, desperate to snap their World Cup semi-final losing streak – which stretches back to 2002.
Safi N’Diaye’s powerful running caused all sorts of problems in the early stages as the French edged towards the try line, but Danielle Waterman disrupted their progress five metres out.
England took the lead mid-way through the half when Emily Scarratt converted a penalty, but France went close to a try again through Elodie Guiglion – but she fumbled at the crucial second.
France continued to put England under intense pressure and levelled the score just before the break through a monstrous Shannon Izar penalty – ensuring the contest became the first of the tournament not to feature a first-half try.
Scarrett put away another easy penalty after the break to regain England the lead, and they scored the game’s first try shortly after as prop Sarah Bern rampaged through France’s defence.
That stirred France again, and they thought they found a way back into the match when Julie Annery crossed in the corner at the end of a fine move.
But the TMO found she had a foot in touch, much to England’s delight, and the champions finished it off late on through Meg Jones.
Ireland fall to Australia defeat
Elsewhere on an exciting day of rugby, hosts Ireland lost 36-24 to Australia and will now play for seventh place on Saturday.
Sharni Williams put the Aussies ahead early on, but Alison Miller and Ailis Egan scored tries to pull Ireland level at 12-12.
However, Australia showed their class in the second half as they upped the intensity and opened a 24-point lead, through tries from Hilisha Samoa, Millie Boyle and Mahalia Murphy.
Sophie Spence and Paula Fitzpatrick closed the score and Ireland continued to exert pressure, but they failed to get back into the game.
They must now face Wales for seventh on Saturday, with the winner securing automatic qualification for the next World Cup.
Canada ooze class in Wales win
Wales held Canada to just 15 points in their Pool game, but the North American giants showed why they are considered one of the best around with a convincing 52-0 win.
Coach Rowland Phillips named the same side which performed so well in the team’s first meeting, but Canada clearly had a point to prove and winger Elissa Alarie scored the game’s first try off the back of a scrum.
Brianna Miller and second row Cindy Nelles crossed shortly after before Alarie demonstrated her class with another cool finish.
And they did not let up as Jacey Grusnick, Karen Paquin and Barbara Mervin completed the win.
Wales’ match with Ireland takes place at Kingspan Stadium at 2pm on Saturday.
Patient Italy reap rewards
Elsewhere, Italy were ruthless against Japan as they booked a ninth-placed play-off match with Spain at Queen’s University with a comfortable one-sided 22-0 win.
Italy enjoyed much of the possession and territory early on, but they could not breakdown Japan’s stubborn defence until Melissa Bettoni crossed on the brink of half time.
That seemed to demoralise Japan, as Italy ran riot after the break – with Michaela Sillari scoring two tries and Sofia Steffan crossing late on. Final: England v New Zealand
Third-place play-off France v USA
Seventh-place play-off Ireland v Wales
Ninth-place play-off Italy v Spain
